Kitten Play
by Kyarorain
Summary: When the Wise One gets bored, he randomly turns an Adept into an animal, whether they like it or not. Felix, Garet, Isaac and Jenna are all victims of his boredom.
1. Kitten Play

**Kitten Play**

* * *

Ok. I feel like being random and just plain mean. That basically means I put a poor someone through a traumatising situation which may be crudely unfunny. Oh well... let's see how it turns out.

I've said it many times and I'll say it again, Camelot owns Golden Sun!

* * *

The Wise One went about its daily activity of hovering around the village of Vale. Once, the Wise One enjoyed sitting inside Mt. Aleph and sleeping all the time. However, Mt. Aleph had sunk into the ground and now his sleeping place had to be in a field somewhere. Wise One sulkily threw a glare at a random Valean. Vale was to blame for this. Especially four pesky Valeans. Two of them had the nerve to go against his orders as well. He had felt a sting of satisfaction as he watched Vale go plop along with Mt. Aleph.

However, the Valeans had simply got over the loss of their village and rebuilt it. Unfortunately, they hadn't bothered to build a new sanctum inside a mountain for the Wise One to sleep in. The rocky protector of Vale had been very annoyed at that. He had even been nice enough to warn the people of Vale of danger and lead them out before the village sank. What had they given him in return? Nothing!

On top of that, Alchemy had been unleashed. Isaac and Garet had been ordered to return the Elemental Stars. In the end, they just banded together with Felix and Jenna, and those four traitorous Valeans along with their buddies had lit the final lighthouse. Yet everyone still praised them for saving the world. Well, okay, the Wise One grudgingly admitted, Alchemy stopped the world from destroying itself... but still!

In the back of his bored mind, the Wise One came up with some devious machinations. Wise One was very bored after all. He didn't enjoy watching Valeans smooching, arguing over who had broken the peanut butter jar, or screaming that the apocalypse was coming. Previous incidents had made a few Valeans paranoid. If Wise One had a mouth, he would have smiled evilly. However, he didn't have a mouth.

* * *

"The end of the world is coming!" A crazed man with wide eyes ran past, shrieking at the top of his voice. The group of Adepts standing nearby slowly turned around and blinked, watching as the crazy man ran around in circles.

"What's the matter with him?" Garet said. "He's acting crazy."

"Isaac, you go and talk to him," Jenna ordered. "He's annoying me."

"Be careful, Isaac," Felix cautioned, as Isaac walked up to the crazy man in exasperation.

"Hey." Isaac grabbed the man by the arm. "What's the matter?"

"I saw it!" The man wailed. "An evil black dog with fangs! It went woof and told me the end of the world was coming! Ahh!"

"Hey, he's wearing his pyjamas," Sheba said. "Did you just run out of bed?"

"Oh..." The man stopped, looking down. He blushed and backed away. "I guess it was just a dream."

"Why were you sleeping in the middle of the day?" Ivan asked.

"I... I... ahh!" The man screamed and ran away, leaving them feeling very perplexed.

"What a strange person," Mia said.

"Oh, I don't know, a lot of people are very paranoid in Vale," Jenna said.

"Yeah. You kind of get paranoid when a storm strikes only your village, a giant boulder rolls off a mountain and down your village, said mountain erupts and almost destroys your village and then your village gets destroyed in the end anyway," Garet said.

"Why do we even live here?" Isaac said. "It seems like this is the most dangerous place to live in all of Weyard."

"That was the old Vale, Isaac," Felix said. "Besides, Mt. Aleph's not next to it anymore so we're safe."

"That's true," Isaac said. "Mt. Aleph was very dangerous to live next to. You'd think we would have had enough sense to live a bit further away."

"Vale was supposed to guard Mt. Aleph," Jenna said. "Although, I think guarding is a difficult job if death threatens you at every turn."

"Anyway, I'm hungry," Garet said. "I'm going to go home and eat some candy bars, some cookies, a piece of that cake Mom made and then some ice cream."

"He's serious, isn't he?" Piers said, watching Garet walk away.

"Sadly, I think he is," Jenna said.

"I'm going back to my room at the inn to do some training," Mia said.

"Training?" Ivan repeated. "Training for what?"

"I'm learning to use heavier swords," Mia said. "I'm anticipating that Alex comes back and I get to kick his butt. Won't he be surprised when I impale him on a really big sword?"

"What does she have against Alex?" Jenna whimpered as Mia walked away cackling evilly.

"We haven't seen Alex lately," Sheba said. "I wonder what happened to him."

"Maybe he found his true calling as an exotic dancer and is currently belly dancing in Apojii," Piers suggested.

"Piers!" Jenna exclaimed. "I can't believe you would suggest that!"

"But isn't Alex... you know?" Ivan smirked.

"Jenna doesn't seem to think so," Isaac said.

Jenna blushed and looked away. "I'm pretty sure he's straight."

"You hope," Isaac teased.

"I'm going off to do something else," Felix said, walking away. As he walked off, he wondered what he should do. To his alarm, he realised he was getting close to Kraden's cottage. He wasn't _that_ bored! Felix tried to veer off course, only for his path to be barred by a floating rock.

"Hi, Felix," The Wise One said chirpily.

"Yikes!" Felix jumped back. It was very odd for the Wise One to even come in the village and talk to people. "What do you want?"

"I just want to play a game for a while," The Wise One said. "I do have a very sick sense of humour."

"No, _really_? I couldn't tell," Felix said sarcastically. He still hadn't forgotten the time Wise One turned his parents and Isaac's father into a three-headed dragon for them to fight on Mars Lighthouse.

"Is it so bad that I like turning people into dragons?" Wise One sounded injured.

"Yes! You turn them into violent, insane fire-breathing dragons that try to kill us!"

"Let's compromise. How about I don't turn you into a dragon? Actually, I wasn't thinking of doing that anyway."

"Huh?"

"Wouldn't you prefer to be cute and furry?"

Felix had the sense that something bad was about to happen to him. Before he could scream and run, the Wise One flashed. Felix stumbled and fell over. The world seemed to grow before his eyes. That tree next to him was towering even higher above him. The grass was coming halfway up his legs. He looked in horror at his hands... or rather, his paws.

"What the-" Felix tried to say. Instead, all that came out was "Meow."

"Have fun!" The Wise One laughed insanely. "Don't worry, I'll turn you back in a day." He disappeared out of sight, still laughing.

* * *

Isaac, Ivan, Jenna, Sheba and Piers were still standing around and talking when a frantic brown kitten came running up to them, yowling and hissing with all its might.

"Huh?" Isaac looked down in surprise, seeing the kitten leaning on his leg and furiously scratching at his trousers. "Hey, ow! That hurts! Bad kitty." He picked Felix up and rubbed his head. Felix hissed and lashed out with a paw, narrowly missing Isaac's nose by millimetres. "Whoah, violent kitty."

"How cute!" Jenna squealed and snatched the kitten out of Isaac's hands. Felix released a yowl of pain as Jenna's hands squeezed into him. "It's so cute!" She wrapped her arms around him, pinning him to her chest, and squeezed tightly.

"I want to pet it too!" Sheba cried. Jenna grudgingly handed the kitten over. Felix mewed plaintively as Sheba hugged and stroked him. How come nobody was trying to help him?

"Where did that kitty come from?" Piers wondered. "It just came charging out of nowhere."

"It's probably a stray. Poor thing," Isaac said, looking sympathetically at Felix, little knowing that the kitten in Sheba's arms was actually a certain Venus Adept.

"Meow, meow!" Felix wailed. _I'm not a kitten!_

"It's meowing a lot," Ivan said.

"Maybe it's hungry," Jenna said. "I'll take it home and give it some food."

"Are you going to keep it?" Sheba asked.

"Well, why not?" Jenna said. "It's too cute to get rid of."

"Oh," Sheba sighed in disappointment, handing over Felix. "They never let me have a pet in Lalivero."

"But I thought they worshipped you," Ivan said in astonishment.

"Exactly," Sheba said. "They worshipped me so much they wanted me to be kept safe. Apparently, they thought a dog would bite me, a parrot or any bird would peck my eyes out, a cat would scratch me until I bled to death... it was crazy."

"Well, you can visit the kitten," Jenna said. "Now to go and feed it!" She began walking away.

"Me-ow, MEOW!" Felix screamed, adding a hiss of annoyance for effect. _I'm not hungry! I'm trying to tell you something!_ However, he realised that as Jenna carted him back to their house, all hope was lost. Great. Now he was going to be fussed over and petted by his sister... the thought horrified him so much that he started struggling to try and escape. However, Jenna's grip of death tightened.

"Stop trying to get away, silly kitty!" Jenna chuckled. "I'm going to feed you. You want food, don't you?"

"Mew." Felix sagged in her grip, losing all hope.

* * *

"Jenna, what are you doing?" Jenna's mother towered over her. "Are you... feeding a cat?"

"It's a kitten, Mom," Jenna said, looking up guiltily. It wasn't every day she brought in a cute kitten and then robbed the fridge to feed their own food to it. She didn't have any cat food, so she'd settled for taking the last of the ham and feeding it to the kitten. "I think it's a stray and it was really hungry."

"And is that the last of the ham you're feeding it?" Her mother looked accusingly at the plate.

Felix cringed as the conversation went on overhead and nervously nibbled at the pink meat. He was secretly thankful that Jenna had robbed the fridge instead of going to get cat food, he didn't think he could even bring himself to eat that stuff, hungry or not.

"Maybe..." Jenna said. "But... there's no cat food in the house!"

"Well, of course there isn't! We don't have a cat!"

"Can I keep the kitten, Mom?" Jenna pleaded. "Unless someone comes around asking about a lost kitten... then I'll return it straight away. Please?"

"Alright..." Jenna's mother relented. "But understand, you're going to go and buy cat food. And some more ham."

"Yes, Mom," Jenna said, smiling in glee. "Oh, and thanks a lot!"

Felix shuddered. Jenna was going to get cat food? Great... with any luck, Jenna would just forget to feed him or something. He wolfed down the last of the ham and then jumped over the plate, running towards the hallway.

"Hey, wait up!" Jenna pursued the kitten, charging after it up the stairs. She pursued it all the way into Felix's bedroom, the door having been left ajar. Felix had run under his bed and cowered in the shadows, trembling with fear. He was just going to sit right here and wait for this nightmare to be over.

"Silly kitten." Jenna kneeled beside the bed, turning her gaze on the terrified kitten. "What are you doing in here? This is Felix's room. Oh, yeah, I wonder if he'll like you. He probably will. I can't wait to show him, oh, and Dad too. We actually have a kitten in the family!"

Felix let out a squeak of terror as Jenna reached out and grabbed him by the scruff. He dug into the floor with his claws, frantically trying to hold on. However, Jenna won and he ended up being carted out of his own room and into hers. Jenna shut the door behind her and put him down. Felix looked hopefully around the room for an escape route. Unfortunately, the window was closed.

"You can stay in here," Jenna said, kneeling down and scratching his head. "I've got to go out now and buy some things. You just wait here and behave yourself."

Felix watched as she left the room, his spirits sinking as she closed the door behind her. There was no escape. He mewed pitifully and walked around the room. _Great, just great. Everyone thinks I'm really a kitten. I guess I'll just have to wait until the Wise One turns me back. This is so embarrassing! Why did the Wise One have to turn me into a kitten, anyway?_

After about an hour of extreme boredom, which seemed more like a year to the depressed Adept turned kitten, Jenna burst into the room with an armful of cat toys and balls of yarns. Felix stared in shock as she dumped the huge pile of toys in front of him. He felt bad for a moment, thinking that she'd spent all this money and it was only going to waste.

"Look, I got you some toys!" Jenna smiled. "I also got cat food, and a litter tray too. I hope you've been housetrained, I don't want to see you doing the nasty on the floor otherwise Mom and Dad will get cross."

The talk of litter trays and Jenna actually warning him off doing his business made Felix want to bury his head in something and just die. This was so incredibly embarrassing.

"Here," Jenna said, holding up a ball of yarn. "Play with it!" She tossed it across the room and it rolled across the floor, unravelling as it moved.

Felix looked at the ball of yarn, feeling surprisingly tempted.

"Go on," Jenna urged. "Play with it."

Felix eventually gave in, he had been feeling very bored after all, and he hurtled across the room to bat at the yarn ball and knock it around the room. Jenna smiled happily, watching him skitter around the room chasing it.

"Oh!" Jenna exclaimed in sudden realisation. "I haven't given you a name yet."

"Meow, meow..." Felix mewed reluctantly, throwing a pitiful glance at Jenna. _I already have a name..._

"Wow," Jenna said. "It's almost like you understand me."

"Meow meow!" Felix cried out in excitement, running towards her. _I do understand you!_

"Okay, if you really do understand me..." Jenna tapped her chin in thought. "I know. Sit!"

Felix frowned in puzzlement. Why was she treating him like a dog? Nevertheless, he did so.

"You're really clever!" Jenna clapped her hands together. "Okay, roll over!"

"Meow..." Felix groaned in annoyance, doing as she said. _I don't want to be playing tricks. I want to be back to normal._

"You're so amazing," Jenna said, picking up Felix and squeezing him, before dumping him back on the floor. "I really have a kitten that can do tricks. It's so cool. Okay, what should I name you?"

Felix hung his head, not looking forwards to hearing the suggestions that she had. She was probably going to come up with some crazy name and utterly humiliate him.

"How about... Daisy?"

Felix looked up at her in utter disbelief. She thought he was a girl? But then again, he wouldn't have wanted her checking his gender... the thought of that was too humiliating. But still, why couldn't she at least have given him a better name?

"Or... Daffodil!"

Really... why was she trying to give him flower names?

"No... those names don't really suit you... hmm... how about Hyacinth?"

Hyacinth? If Felix could even talk, he would have asked her just what she was on. However, all he could do was meow so he kept silent and looked around, wondering if she might have a secret stash of crack hidden somewhere.

"I like it! Hey, Hyacinth!"

Felix curled up into a ball, wallowing in misery. If he could, he would be kicking the Wise One's rear end right now.

"Are you tired, Hyacinth?" Jenna got to her feet. "Okay, I'm going out again, so I'll leave you in here. I'll see you later!" She waved at him and walked out.

As Felix desperately just tried to go to sleep on top of a snuggly blanket, it occurred to him that Jenna actually talked to cats. Mercifully, he managed to sleep and drifted off into a fitful sleep.

* * *

"How's the cat?" Sheba asked, walking along with Jenna.

"Oh, she's doing well," Jenna said.

"It's a girl?" Sheba said.

"I guess," Jenna said. "Actually, I just assumed. I don't really know how to tell a male from a female."

"Are your parents letting you keep it?" Sheba asked.

"Yeah," Jenna said. "I'm going to keep her. I've even given her a name already."

"Oh?" Sheba said. "What did you name her?"

"Hyacinth."

Sheba stopped in her tracks and stared.

Jenna noticed her stare and backed away uncomfortably. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"HYACINTH?" Sheba yelled. "What's a hyacinth?"

"Hey, it's not your cat! It's mine, I can name it what I want!" Jenna pouted. "And a hyacinth is a flower!"

"I... can't believe you named an innocent little kitten... after a crappy flower," Sheba said weakly. "You're terrible."

"You're mean!" Jenna stuck her tongue out at Sheba and walked away.

Sheba stared at her, even further shocked. Jenna really shouldn't be allowed to have a cat if it made her act this immature. She narrowed her eyes and vowed that she would rescue that cat from the evil clutches of Jenna, no matter what. Sheba grinned deviously and hurried away to formulate the evil plan.

Meanwhile, Jenna ran around the village declaring to her friends her cruel persecution of an innocent kitten. On the way, she stopped at a clothing shop and bought a pink ribbon.

* * *

Felix was cruelly awoken in the evening by Jenna stomping into the room.

"Look, Hyacinth!" Jenna dangled the pink strip of silk in front of Felix. "I got a pretty ribbon for you."

Felix froze in horror, his brown eyes fixed on the ribbon. "Me... ow..." _No... way... pink?_

Jenna grinned and tied the ribbon around the kitten's neck, leaning back to look appreciatively at him. "You look so cute!"

"Meow, meow," Felix sulkily mewed, scratching at the ribbon. _I hope the Wise One gets you next and turns you into a frog._

"Oh, it's dinner time now," Jenna jumped to her feet, picking Felix up. "Time to feed you." She walked out of the room with him.

Felix gazed miserably at the bowl of cat food, his spirits sinking. He had to eat otherwise Jenna would freak out. Felix tentatively ate a piece and grimaced. How could this even be considered suitable food? It did have a nice, rich flavour... but something just wasn't right about this. Felix reluctantly ate the cat food, shuddering and looking up at the table unhappily. He should be up there with his parents and Jenna, eating proper food. It was steak for dinner too!

Having to go in front of them in a tray of litter was even more humiliating than being named after a flower and wearing a pink ribbon.

The rest of the evening was spent listlessly lying on Jenna's bedroom floor as Jenna lobbed various toys at him and tried to coax him into playing some more. Eventually, it got late and Jenna gave up on him, going over to the closet. "Well, I better get changed now."

Felix silently thanked her for the warning and put his paws over his eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jenna poked him a few minutes later. "Why are you doing that?"

Felix stared up at her bleakly. Why was she asking him questions? He couldn't answer them. "Meow, meow, meow." _I just want to die._

"Let's go to bed," Jenna said, picking him up and walking over to her bed. She got underneath the cover and placed him on the mattress. "You can sleep with me tonight if you want."

"Meow!" Felix jumped out of the bed and darted underneath it. He'd already had enough of her for today, he didn't want to spend the entire night being hugged by his insane sister who talked to cats. Besides, she talked in her sleep. Sharing a room was bad enough, being right next to her... he would be awake all night.

"Aww, I thought you'd like it," Jenna said in disappointment. "Oh well... have a nice sleep, Hyacinth."

Felix waited underneath the bed, anticipating the signal. Eventually, Jenna started talking sleepily about Alex and tap-dancing monkeys. Felix darted towards the door and sprang off the floor, his paws latching onto the doorknob. He managed to jiggle it enough that it turned and the door swung slightly open. That was all he needed. He dropped to the floor and managed to push the door open just a little more, bolting into the hall.

A dark figure loomed up above him. Felix looked up in fright, wondering if it was his mother or father. However, it seemed to be a black-clad ninja. What was a ninja doing in his house? The ninja kneeled in front of him, green eyes showing through the head wrap, and a hand seized him. Next thing Felix knew, he was being stuffed in a bag and a zipper drawn above him. Was he actually being kidnapped? Catnapped?

The ride was uncomfortable and bumpy. Whoever was carrying him was swinging the bag as they walked and it unsettled Felix. He almost thought that he might lose the contents of his stomach. Eventually, he felt the bag be dumped on a floor. The zipper was drawn open and the ninja lifted him out. Felix padded wonderingly around the room.

"You're mine now!" Sheba's voice told him.

Felix swung around in surprise. The ninja had removed their head wrap to reveal that they were actually Sheba. Sheba smiled down at him evilly. "I finally get to have a pet cat of my own."

Felix blinked, sitting and staring in wonder. He flinched as Sheba started taking off her clothes and curled up, covering his eyes in embarrassment. Sheba didn't even seem to talk to cats that much, let alone warn them she was going to undress.

"Okay." Sheba picked him up and carried him over to her bed, getting underneath the bedcover and placing him on her chest. "Now that I've rescued you from the clutches of Jenna, I'm going to give you a new name. I can't believe that she called you Hyacinth!"

Felix winced at the name. He could scarcely believe it either.

"You remind me a lot of Felix." Sheba rubbed his back, scratching the back of his neck. Felix purred as he enjoyed her touch, stopping himself when he realised what he was doing. "Maybe I should call you Felix." She giggled, blushing lightly.

Felix stared at her in shock. Why was she blushing?

Sheba smiled and picked him up, putting him in the crook of her arm. "I'm tired..." She rolled over slightly and closed her eyes.

Well, as far as cat owners went, Sheba was a lot better than Jenna, Felix thought. Sheba actually gave him his own name and didn't feel the need to bore him for hours with senseless babble. He felt a little bad for putting Jenna down so much, but what she was doing to him practically bordered on abuse.

Sheba had been asleep for a while now when the Wise One appeared in the room. Felix let out a mew of surprise.

"I think you've suffered enough humiliation now," The Wise One said. "Nice ribbon."

Felix hissed.

"Yes, I see you're not very happy," The Wise One said. "Okay, I'll turn you back now."

Felix sighed in relief as he felt himself turn back into a human. Fortunately, Sheba wasn't awoken. He didn't want to find out how Sheba would react to finding him lying on top of her bed. The Wise One disappeared before Felix could say some choice words. Felix sat up and wrenched the ribbon off his neck in disgust, throwing it to the floor.

"HYACINTH!" Jenna screamed, bursting into the room.

Felix leaped off the bed in shock, staring at her wide-eyed. What was the matter with her? She couldn't just go bursting into people's rooms screaming at the top of her lungs. And had she just run across Vale in her pyjamas?

"Oh, what are you doing in here, Felix?" Jenna looked at him in surprise. "Is this where you've been hiding the whole time? In Sheba's room?"

"No!" Felix exclaimed. "I... just... er..."

"Huh?" Sheba sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What's with all the noise?"

"Sheba!" Jenna stormed over to her and grabbed her by the front of her dress. "You kidnapped my kitten!"

"You realised already?" Sheba gaped at her in surprise.

"It was intuition," Jenna said furiously. "I woke up feeling like something was wrong and when I checked under the bed, Hyacinth was gone! I checked the whole room and I couldn't find her. And look, that's her ribbon on the floor!"

Felix nervously edged towards the door, trying to get out before Sheba saw him. He successfully made it and started running for dear life back to his house, not wishing to hear Sheba and Jenna fight over a nonexistent kitten.

"Where is he?" Sheba frowned, looking around for the kitten. "I put him on my bed..."

"Hyacinth doesn't like beds!" Jenna pouted. "He... I mean... _she_ probably went underneath it." She kneeled down and looked. "Oh no... Hyacinth isn't there..."

"The door's open," Sheba said. "He must have got out when you came in and started yelling at me."

"Oh no..." Jenna sighed. "Sheba! You let my kitten escape!"

"I'm sorry," Sheba said. "But it's partly your fault."

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't kidnapped her," Jenna said. "Hopefully, she'll return home. But you are never going to be allowed near Hyacinth ever again!"

Sheba sighed as Jenna stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Great... her first cat and she'd lost it straight away, and Jenna had busted her out almost immediately. She wasn't any good at kidnapping at all.

* * *

Felix was just happily snuggling down into his nice, cosy bed when Jenna stomped into the room.

"Sheba is so horrible!" Jenna wailed.

Oh no. Jenna was upset. Now he was apparently going to have to console her. Felix sat up and tiredly rubbed his eyes as Jenna sat by the bed and threw her arms on it, burying her face in the cover and whimpering. "Sheba kidnapped my cat and now she's gone missing!"

"You got a cat?" Felix said.

"Uh-huh." Jenna looked up at him with wide, teary eyes. "A stray kitten came running up to us earlier and I took it home. I even bought cat food, litter and toys for it. Mom said I could keep it. I gave her a pretty name too. You really should have seen her, she was so cute."

"What did you name it?"

"Hyacinth." Jenna beamed. "Isn't it a pretty name?"

"That's... nice," Felix said hesitantly. He had no desire to invoke Jenna's wrath. She would do worse than tie a pink ribbon around his neck. "Maybe the kitten already had a home and... she's gone back now. I'm sure the kitten was very, very happy with you looking after her."

"Yeah... but still, Sheba just took her," Jenna said. "I suppose she did it because she'd never been allowed to have a cat in Lalivero and she must have wanted her pretty bad. She was so cute though..."

"Come on, don't be so upset," Felix said. "Wherever the kitten is, it must be very happy right now, because it got to spend a day with such a great person."

"Heh, don't be silly, it didn't even seem to like me that much anyway," Jenna said, although she was smiling. "So where were you? You didn't even come to dinner."

"I was at someone's house," Felix lied. He couldn't tell her he'd spent the day as a kitten being mercilessly tortured by her. "I had dinner there. And, uh, I was coming back home when I saw Sheba running out of our house. I followed and I saw her letting a kitten out of a bag and... I heard she'd kidnapped her. So I was sitting on the bed... having a dilemma about... whether I should tell her to give the kitten back or just take it."

"Okay..." Jenna said doubtfully. "Well, I feel better now. Goodnight." She hugged him and then skipped out of the room.

Felix sighed in relief again and sank back down into his bed, letting out a happy sigh. At last he was back to normal and Jenna at least wasn't devastated about losing her new kitten. With any luck, the Wise One wouldn't attack anyone else. He didn't _really_ want the Wise One turning Jenna into a frog anymore.


	2. Rabbit Nightmare

**Rabbit Nightmare**

* * *

Again, I'm being random and mean, and continuing this. Now I get to choose a new victim to unwittingly turn into an animal. Yay!

Of course, Camelot owns Golden Sun!

* * *

Ah, a bright, happy new day. The Wise One coolly glanced up at the sky to predict what the weather for today would be. It was apparently going to be warm and sunny since there was hardly a cloud in the sky. How boring. Perhaps he should unleash a storm or two just to give those Valeans some excitement. Knowing them though, they would freak out, panic and run to the plaza. At least there weren't any boulders sitting on top of a mountain close by waiting to squish them all.

Just _why_ had the Valeans been living right next to a dormant volcano with a huge boulder on top of it anyway? Wise One decided that the Valeans were in fact all suicidal. Pessimists too. Those four people had barely been gone a week after the storm before everyone decided to declare them dead, despite the lack of bodies. Sometimes, the Wise One was exasperated by the suicidal pessimists. Just why was he protecting them again?

The Wise One had an urge to play another prank on someone. Not Felix this time, but someone else. He actually enjoyed playing pranks on poor, innocent, unsuspecting Adepts. Wise One let out an evil chuckle and floated through the village, seeking out the ideal prey.

* * *

Garet was very bored this morning. It was a miracle that he was even out of bed yet. First he had woken from a terrifying dream in which people were stealing his food and eating it right in front of him. He had awoken screaming, drenched in sweat. Then Kay had stormed into his room, yelling at him for screaming at that time of the morning, and proceeded to throw a bucket of water at him. The unfortunate, sopping wet Mars Adept had to go and dry himself. His bed was soaked and Aaron had taken the opportunity to tease him about the fact his bed was wet. Garet's vehement protests that Kay was the culpit had done nothing to stop Aaron from teasing and taunting him.

_Stupid kid brothers._ Garet unhappily scowled, kicking a stone and watching it bounce along the ground. _Older sisters are annoying too. Man, why couldn't I have been an only child or something? But then again, Mom and Dad wouldn't be too happy with that. I'm obviously the worst out of three._

Thinking like that made him pout. Just because he ate a lot and mostly too fast, knocked over a lot of things and lacked a few brain cells, everyone made fun of him. Oh well, he could always plot revenge. A bright idea occurred to Garet and he sneaked around the back of his own house with an evil grin on his face. He had a very good idea, a very, _very _good idea. Okay, so it wasn't exactly a unique idea, but it was _still_ a very good idea!

At the back of the house, there sat a bed of colourful flowers, all thriving quite well in the warm summer climate. This well cultivated and cared for flower bed was the pride and joy of Kay Jerra, the "annoying" older sister of Garet. Garet's very evil and very good idea directly involved this innocent bed of flowers that had never committed a single wrong aganst Garet. He was simply picking on innocent, vulnerable plants in order to get back at his sister for throwing water all over his bed.

After doing this, he would think of a very good idea of how to get back at Aaron for teasing him about wetting the bed. Garet had in fact not wet the bed since some time after the boulder incident. It wasn't his fault at all. He'd just been having scary nightmares about flooded rivers, scary storms, rampaging boulders and scary pointy-eared people with red eyes. Oh yeah, Saturos and Menardi. Garet would never admit now he had previously wet the bed dreaming about Saturos and Menardi. Funny how more easily scared he was at 14 than 17.

Hmm, where was he? Oh yes, burning Kay's flowers.

_Alright, flowers, your time is up!_ Garet held out his hands and began glowing with Psynergy, not once feeling bad for the fact that he was about to burn poor, innocent flowers. He hated flowers anyway. Flowers smelled and always attracted bees. Bees were nasty, they stung.

"Hello, Garet."

Garet let out a cry of shock and spiralled around, palpitating with fear. For a moment, he thought that he was busted and now Kay was going to _know_ that Garet tried to burn her flowers. He hadn't yet managed to do it before getting interrupted. His eyes flickered around wildly as he tried to see who had spoken and then he spotted a ball of rock with an eye floating in the sky and watching him evilly.

"Wise One," Garet said nervously, taking a step back and almost stepping into the flower bed. "Uh... what... what do you want?"

"Nice move trying to burn your sister's flowers," Wise One commented. "But I've got a better idea for what you could do today."

"Eh?" Garet raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going on any more of your stupid quests, understand? You tried to get me and Isaac to _secure_ the world's destruction!"

"I cannot deny that," The Wise One said, without even a hint of shame in his voice. As far as he was concerned, he had been doing absolutely nothing wrong. What was so bad about Weyard destroying itself anyway? "However, no, I am not going to send you on another quest. Wouldn't you like to eat carrots and hop around for a day?"

"I _hate_ carrots!" Garet exclaimed, grimacing in revulsion. One time, when he broke some ancient sculpture completely by accident, his mother had been mad at him, saying that it was a priceless family heirloom and punished him by making him eat a plate full of carrots. That had been one of the worst days of his life. There were other worst days too, like when he was hanging off Jupiter Lighthouse with one arm.

"Too bad," The Wise One said, flashing dramatically. Garet cried out in shock as he found himself shrinking and fell on his front. "Have fun, Garet."

Garet tried to yell something at the Wise One as he flew away, but all that came out of his mouth was some unintelligible sound. He struggled to get on his legs, hovered for about two seconds, then fell over again. Something was quite odd about his balance all of a sudden. Garet hopped forwards... wait, _hopped?_ His head turned so that he was looking at Kay's flower bed and he gasped.

The flowers were in fact almost towering over him.

One ear twitched. One quite long ear sticking out of the top of his head. He looked at his paws, kicked one of his back legs and then realisation set in, as well as dread and horror.

Garet Jerra had just been turned into a _bunny_. If he could have screamed, he would have. Instead, he let out an odd high-pitched squeal.

* * *

Kay walked towards the bed of flowers, whistling a merry tune as she swung a watering can along in one hand. She had just gone around the back of her house when she came to a stop, staring at the flowerbed, and let out a horrified scream. The watering can fell to the ground with a thud and then water trickled slowly out. Kay paid little heed to the dropped watering can, only able to stare in fright and horror at her flowerbed.

Now, it was not actually the flowerbed that was the problem. The flowerbed was in fact absolutely fine and the flowers had certainly not been touched. However, a menacing rabbit, orange in hue, with demonic little black eyes was actually _staring_ at the flowers. Quite possibly about to commit the dreaded sin of eating and ruining the flowers. Kay snapped back to reality and she lunged forwards, screaming.

_"NOOOOOOO!"_

Garet the unfortunate bunny was extremely surprised when his sister fell on top of him and seized him in a death grip, wrenching him away from the flowers. He hadn't even been about to touch them. He was simply far too busy being shocked at being a rabbit to even try finding out if he was still capable of using Psynergy. Anyway, Kay now stood up, holding Garet in her arms, and started screaming again.

"Bad rabbit!" Kay scolded. "Flowers are not for eating! Huh, are rabbits supposed to be orange? How weird."

Garet looked up at her imploringly, begging her with his beady rabbit eyes to at least recognise him. However, she didn't even seem to. _Oh, who am I kidding? No way is Kay going to think that her brother got turned into a bunny. I'm alone in this mess, aren't I?_

"Sis?" Aaron approached her, looking wide-eyed at the small orange bundle in her arm. He gasped and reached out, poking Garet with one stubby finger. "It's a rabbit!"

"I found this evil rabbit about to eat my flowers," Kay said menacingly, glaring pointedly at Garet, who shuddered and looked away. Now he was actually glad he hadn't gone ahead with burning the flowers after all. If she got this crazy at a rabbit just for going _near_ her flowers... he was most definitely sure she was mentally unstable.

"Can I take it home?" Aaron asked.

"I guess," Kay said, dumping the rabbit into Aaron's arms. Aaron grinned and squeezed Garet very tightly. Too tightly. "But Mom and Dad probably won't let you keep it inside."

_No! _Garet mentally cried out as Aaron carried him towards the house. _All hope is lost..._

Aaron walked through the house, sneaking past his parents so that they wouldn't notice his newest pet, and ran to his bedroom. Garet ended up sitting miserably on Aaron's bedroom floor, wondering when he was going to turn back into a human. He had no desire to find out how Aaron treated pets. Had they ever even had a rabbit before? At any rate, he didn't think so. In which case, he was quite possibly screwed.

"Cute bunny," Aaron commented, scratching Garet's head. "What do bunnies eat?"

_Definitely screwed_, Garet decided, his spirits sinking.

"Hmm... maybe lettuce," Aaron said thoughfully. "Vegetables. Maybe broccoli, cucumbers..."

Garet started running around the room in fright at the list of vegetables.

"Aubergines... leeks... asparagus..."

Somehow, Garet managed a very impressive jump onto Aaron's bed. He dived underneath the cover, absolutely terrified by Aaron's listing of various vegetables. Not only that, but Aaron seemed to be considering _feeding_ them to him. Garet simply could not bear it.

"Peppers... lima beans... um... ooh, carrots!"

Intense fear jolted through Garet's veins and he began trembling wildly. A warm feeling ran down one leg and he felt a moist warmth beneath him. Wait... what had just happened? Garet backed out from under the duvet, feeling absolutely mortified. Apparently, rabbits had weaker bladders than humans. At least he was able to console himself with the fact that it was Aaron's bed, not his, and Aaron wasn't going to blame this one on Garet. Garet miserably hopped along the bed and spotted the window.

_Sweet elements!_ Garet thought happily. _The window's open! Am I that crazy? Hmm, I think so._

"Can I give you a name?" Aaron mused, turning around. "Even if I'm not allowed to keep you... maybe..."

Garet had no desire to be given a name. With an almightly leap, he sprang onto the windowsill. Wow, he was so much more agile as a rabbit. Aaron let out a cry of horror as Garet sailed through the window and braced himself for impact. He ended up lying on the ground for a good few seconds, the wind knocked out of him and stars exploding in his eyesight. Then it occurred to him that Aaron could be running downstairs right now to retrieve him. Garet panicked and started running, not quite sure where he was going, as he hurtled blindly through the village.

* * *

Jenna was quite happily strolling through Vale and minding her own business when an orange rabbit shot out of nowhere and crashed into her leg. Jenna looked down in surprise at the stunned rabbit and reached down to pick it up, looking quizzically at it.

"An orange rabbit?" Jenna said, raising an eyebrow. "I've never seen orange rabbits before."

A moment of silence passed in which Garet the rabbit looked hopefully at Jenna. He quite liked the way she was holding him, he got to sit on her chest and rest on certain areas. A perverted grin spead across his rabbit face.

"Wow, you're smiling?" Jenna said incredulously, squinting in surprise. "Hmm... you're an interesting rabbit. Think I'll take you home."

_No, take me to the Wise One and tell him to turn me back..._ Garet thought hopelessly. Jenna was already carting him to her house. He wondered what terrible fate would befall him. She was probably going to end up naming him Petunia or something stupid. Especially after that incident with some kitten that got named after a flower. Garet heard enough flower names at the table every day, he didn't need Jenna adding any more to his vocabulary.

Once inside, Jenna approached her mother who was slaving over the oven and cooking the lunch for today.

"Hey, Mom," Jenna said, holding up the very confused rabbit. "Look what I found outside."

"Jenna!" Jenna's mother snapped. "Keep that filthy thing away from the food!"

Garet stared at the food longingly, a trail of drool coming out of his mouth. What she was cooking at the oven smelled so good. Jenna stepped back obligingly.

"I hope you're not planning to keep it," Jenna's mother said, glaring poisonously at Garet. "That thing must be dirty if it's been running around outside. They poo all over the place too."

Garet bristled. He had certainly not been pooing all over the place. Okay, so there had been the incident with his weaker bladder, but _still_...

"No, I don't want to keep it," Jenna said quickly. "I was thinking maybe you could make rabbit pie for supper."

Garet froze.

Had he heard that correctly?

Jenna wanted him _in a pie?_

"Ohh," Jenna's mother said, turning around and looking pleased. Garet's insides turned to ice at the look on her face. "That's a good idea, Jenna. We haven't had rabbit pie in a while."

Garet started desperately struggling and squirming, trying to break free of Jenna's arms. No way was he going to ever going to be someone's meal!

"Heh, I think the rabbit understands," Jenna said in amusement, chuckling at Garet's antics. Garet swore that her chuckle sounded evil.

Jenna's mother waved a frying pan in a threatening manner, her eyes glinting deviously. "Hand it over, I'll bash it in the head and put it aside to prepare later."

Jenna cheerfully held out her own childhood friend in her hands as she presented him to her mother to be coldly slaughtered by the frying pan.

By a sheer miracle, Garet was able to twist in her grasp and drop out of her hands. He reacted quicker to the impact and was immediately running away, ignoring Jenna's shout.

However, a dilemma presented itself to Garet.

The front door was closed.

Nevertheless, Garet kept running. Maybe he could break the door down. Or chew his way through it. Anything to get away from Jenna.

Suddenly, the front door swung open and Felix stood in the doorway, unaware that he was aiding Garet's escape.

Jenna let out a scream of horror and lunged as she had just been pursuing Garet.

Garet dived through Felix's legs and kept running.

Jenna collided with Felix, almost causing him to fall over.

_"NO!"_ Jenna shrieked, watching the rabbit run far away from her. "The rabbit got away!"

"Rabbit?" Felix turned around and saw the orange rabbit. _Orange? How strange..._

The rabbit stopped and glanced over its shoulder, trembling nervously.

"Hey!" Felix stepped forwards.

The rabbit started running again.

_That was a quick reaction,_ Felix thought. _Surely it's not..._

"Get the rabbit!" Jenna screamed hysterically, now back on her feet.

Felix did as she said, charging after the rabbit. However, his intent was not to bake the rabbit in a pie and eat it. He had his suspicions about that furry critter.

The rabbit looked over his shoulder again and without a second thought, ran even faster and plunged into the river.

_Okay_, Garet thought. _This has got to be the stupidest thing I've done so far._ For he was sinking like a rock in the water. It hadn't occurred to him that rabbits didn't swim well. He looked desperately up at the surface of the water, praying for a miracle. Surprisingly, someone plunged into the river after him. He felt strong arms wrapping around him and then he was being pulled up. Now he was out of the water. Garet furiously coughed up water and gasped for breath,

"Felix!" Jenna exclaimed, storming up to her older brother. "You jumped into the river to save a _rabbit_? Are you crazy?"

"You said get the rabbit," Felix said. "I was just following your orders."

Garet shivered and trembled, flattening himself against Felix's chest as if he could get further away from Jenna by doing that. Jenna looked hungrily at him and he started struggling, terrified by te look that she was giving him.

"Mom's going to make rabbit pie tonight," Jenna announced. "I found the rabbit running around and brought it in."

"Um, Jenna," Felix said hesitantly. "I don't think it should be eaten."

Garet looked up at Felix in surprise. Did he actually know?

"Why not?" Jenna demanded.

"Because... er.." Felix hesitated. He surreptiously dropped Garet. "Whoops. Better catch him before he runs to Isaac's or something."

"No!" Jenna wailed, as Garet caught the hint and fled. Garet figured he might be safe with Isaac. Isaac was not a child and neither did he share Jenna's rather vicious rabbit-eating nature. "Why Isaac's?"

"I don't know," Felix said. "For all I know, he might run to Garet's. I'm not psychic."

"You let the rabbit get away!" Jenna said accusingly.

"No, I didn't," Felix said. "Now I'm going to Isaac's-"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Jenna said in a steely tone.

"Huh?"

"Your clothes are wet! You'll get pneumonia, you idiot!"

Oh. Right. Felix blinked and looked down at his sopping wet clothes. Today was definitely not fun. He'd had to save Garet twice and Jenna was being psychotically evil towards rabbits. Well, now he would have to change and then go to Isaac's. Hopefully, that idiot Mars Adept would have enough sense not to almost get killed again. Oh, who was he kidding?

* * *

Garet fortunately managed to make it to Isaac's in one piece. He could not believe his luck today. Almost getting murdered by Jenna's mother and being saved twice by Felix... admittedly, the second time had been his own fault. Just how did Felix know that he happened to be Garet anyway?

Garet hopped up to the front door of Isaac's house and impatiently waited. It occurred to him that the door might not open for hours and Jenna might catch up with him first if she was pursuing him. _Please... let the door open... I don't want to be eaten by Jenna!_ Garet shivered in fear. He thought he might almost become vegetarian after this nasty incident, but decided he loved meat far too much to give it up. He just wasn't going to be able to eat rabbit for a very, very long time, if ever.

The front door unexpectedly swung open and Dora stepped out. Garet immediately darted forwards and ran into the house. Fortunately for him, Dora didn't notice the orange rabbit scampering into her house and closed the door behind her. Garet ran frantically around the house and then up the stairs. Isaac had to be somewhere. And he was, in his bedroom.

"Whoah," Isaac said, sitting up in surprise. "Where did you come from?"

Garet cavorted around in frantic circles, trying to think of a way to signal to Isaac who he was. However, nothing came to mind.

"Okay..." Isaac said slowly. "I guess my house is being invaded by insane orange rabbits."

Garet looked desperately at his best friend. He just wasn't getting it.

"I guess if you're visiting me," Isaac said, getting to his feet. "It's only nice to be courteous to the guest. I'll get some food. And then I'm kicking you out,"

Garet winced. He would just have to take time eating his food.

Isaac left the bedroom, closing the door, and soon came back, setting a small dish in front of Garet.

Garet stared at the dish in horror as Isaac sat on the bed and watched him expectantly.

_No..._ Garet thought, horrified. _How can this be? Not carrots... no... anything but carrots!_

"Oh, maybe you don't want food," Isaac said finally. "Okay, that's it, you're getting out of my house."

_No!_ Garet immediately dived at the dish and started furiously munching on a carrot. It tasted horrible in his opinion, but he had no choice. His life depended on him eating this foul, loathsome vegetable.

"That was unexpected," Isaac commented. "What a weird rabbit."

Just as Garet finished his last dreaded piece of carrot, Felix came walking into the bedroom, now changed into completely dry clothes.

"Hey, Isaac," Felix greeted him.

"Hi, Felix," Isaac said. He pointed at the rabbit. "A weird rabbit came running into my bedroom so I gave it some carrots. Have you ever seen an orange rabbit?"

"No," Felix answered. "Actually, I saw the rabbit before. Jenna wanted to eat it in a pie."

Garet fled across the room and shied in a corner, trembling at the mentions of the words _Jenna_ and _pie_. He would never be able to hear these two words in a sentence without having violent convulsions and palpitations of fear now.

"Wow, that rabbit seems to understand you," Isaac said in surprise. "What is up with that thing?"

Garet bristled. He didn't like being called a thing one bit. But he wasn't exactly a person right now either...

"Could you keep it here for a while?" Felix asked. "I don't want Jenna to eat that rabbit and the moment it goes outside, it's in danger. Just for today."

"I don't get you, Felix." Isaac frowned. "But if it's just for the day, I suppose so. Do I have to do anything?"

"Nope," Felix replied. "Just make sure it stays alive. It's a litte bit dense."

Garet's annoyance intensified. Okay, so maybe jumping in the river had been a little dense... but he had been _afraid for his life_! He hadn't known any better.

"Sure," Isaac said, blinking in confusion. "I got you... I guess."

"Great," Felix said. "See you." He walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"I swear if you make a mess, you're out no matter what Felix said," Isaac said, glowering at Garet who cowered nervously. He had no desire to force Isaac to send him back outside where death awaited him. Isaac went back to doing whatever it was he had been doing before an insane orange rabbit burst into his room.

* * *

It was evening now. Garet sighed and flopped listlessly on the floor. Isaac had gone down to supper, his parents well unaware that an orange rabbit was in his bedroom. His stomach rumbled with hunger. Why was he having to suffer like this? He wearily raised his head and looked up, bleakly looking around the room. Garet was pretty sure he had memorised every single detail of Isaac's bedroom by now. He was intensely _bored_. But at least he wasn't about to be eaten by Jenna the insane rabbit-eater or her mother the insane rabbit-killer. What kind of person killed a rabbit with a _frying pan_?

The Wise One suddenly appeared in Isaac's bedroom, hovering in the air. Garet scrambled to his feet and shot the Wise One a desperate look.

"Hmm, so you nearly got eaten, didn't you?" The Wise One said, not even sounding sympathetic. "And here I thought Jenna was just about to name you after a flower and bore you senseless by talking to you."

Garet frowned in confusion. The Wise One knew about Jenna's naming habit? And she actually talked to animals? No wonder Felix was so protective of her, he'd probably been having to defend her from animals all the time when they were little because she talked to the animals until they snapped and... Garet shook his head. That was silly. Animals didn't get mad at people for talking to them.

"Anyway, I'll just turn you back now," Wise One said casually, flashing dramatically yet again. "There you go."

Garet culd have cried. He was actually a _human_ again. He had his hands, feet, everything back! He leaped to his feet and glared at the Wise One. "Hey, you really owe me, you know! I almost got killed by Jenna's mother and then I nearly drowned trying to save my life! It's all your fault!"

"Quite," The Wise One agreed. "I'll make it up to you by teleporting you to your house so you won't need to explain to Isaac why you just came out of his bedroom."

Garet was about to demand further compensation, when the scenery suddenly changed and now he was standing in front of his own house. Wise One was nowhere to be seen. Garet sighed and walked into his house, wondering if anybody had noticed his absence. He came into the kitchen and found his family just about to sit down to dinner.

"Oh, there you are, Garet!" Garet's father exclaimed.

"We were just wondering where you had got to," said the Mayor of Vale.

"Guess what we're having for dinner tonight," Garet's mother said.

"Humor me," Garet said, staring wistfully at the dish in the middle of the table. He was so hungry, he didn't want to have to play guessing games before he could eat.

* * *

The Jerra family all sat around the table, eating their dinner. One chair was left vacant however. Apparently, Garet had decided that he was not that hungry after all, complained that his stomach was hurting funny, then ran upstairs. The sound of Garet vomiting above merely led them to believe Garet was telling the truth, although it was quite a surprise that anything could prevent Garet from eating after all.

"It's too bad for Garet he's not feeling well," Kay said, holding a forkful of meat up. "This rabbit pie is really good, Mom."

* * *

After Garet was feeling better and had got over the shock of the fact his family had rabbit pie for dinner, he headed over to Felix and Jenna's house. They had just finished supper and Garet felt very merciful that he had not been their supper.

"Hi, Garet!" Jenna said. "What's wrong?" She noticed that Garet was putting a lot of distance between him and her.

"N-nothing..." Garet said shakily. "I just... have a cold I don't want you to catch."

"Okay," Jenna said, looking dubious. "So why are you here?"

"I want to talk to Felix," Garet said.

"He's in his room," Jenna told him, looking surprised as Garet fled the room. He seemed almost scared of her for some odd reason.

Felix looked up as Garet entered the room and smirked. "So, Wise One turned you back, huh?"

"How did you know?" Garet almost yelled, looking wide-eyed at him.

"Wise One did the same thing to me," Felix said, getting up from the chair he had been sitting. "Remember that kitty?"

"The one Jenna named after a flower and Sheba kidnapped?" Garet asked.

"That was me," Felix said, glancing at the floor. "I had to suffer hours of Jenna's senseless babbling because she talks to animals, I had a ribbon tied around my neck and I was named after a _flower!_"

"Man," Garet said, shaking his head. "Wise One is such a sadist."

"Yes," Felix agreed. "You know, it was pretty dumb of you to go jumping into the river."

"Jenna was going to eat me!" Garet exclaimed. "And I didn't know I wouldn't be able to swim!"

"I suppose Mom threatening you with a frying pan was too much for you," Felix said, smiling slightly in amusement. "Anyway, you should thank me. I saved your life twice!"

"Yeah..." Garet awkwardly shuffled his feet. He didn't particularly want to thank him, especially when he was looking so amused like that as if his mother trying to kill him had been funny! But he figured he didn't have much choice. "... Thanks."

"I wonder who the Wise One's next victim will be," Felix said wonderingly. "I think he's not done yet."

"I hope it's Jenna and she's turned into a pig. Suits her." Garet muttered. Felix glared at him. "Er, heh heh, just kidding!" Garet quickly backed out of the room and fled before Felix could slaughter him for the insult against his little sister.

* * *

Before bedtime, Garet had just one more thing to do. He spotted Aaron about to get into bed and jovially walked in.

"Hey, Aaron," Garet said. "Ready for bed? Good boy." He patted Aaron on the head.

"It's not fair you and Kay get to stay up later." Aaron pouted.

"That's because we're older, kiddo," Garet said. "Just wait a few years."

"Right..." Aaron drew back the cover and stared.

Garet gasped and leaned forwards, staring intently at the stain. "Aaron! You wet the bed?"

"No... no, I didn't!" Aaron exclaimed, flushing red. "It was... it wasn't me!"

"Why didn't you tell Mom to change the sheet?" Garet asked, grinning. "You still wet the bed. Heh!"

"It was the rabbit!" Aaron wailed. "It must have peed in the bed!"

"Oh come on, you didn't have a rabbit," Garet scoffed. "Just admit it already."

"Actually, he did have a rabbit this morning," Kay said, walking into the room. Garet winced, mentally cursing his sister for trying to ruin his fun. "But the rabbit ran away. What happened, Aaron?"

"The rabbit got in my bed and wet it," Aaron said, pointing at the stain.

"Aaron wet the bed..." Garet taunted lamely.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth," Kay said. "Why would he leave his sheet wet all day?"

"Exactly," Aaron said, shooting Garet a look.

Garet sighed and moped his way out of the room. So much for revenge.


	3. Feathers Aflutter

**Feathers Aflutter**

* * *

Another new chapter! Now Isaac is my victim of choice.

Camelot owns Golden Sun.

* * *

Isaac was feeling quite bored today of all days. He wasn't even allowed in his own house.

"I am spring cleaning!" Dora had hissed in a demonic voice, her eyes glowing red as she threateningly waved a feather duster at Isaac and Kyle. "If I catch either of you two setting foot in here before dinner, there will be hell to pay. Do you understand me? I said that there will be hell to pay!"

Kyle had immediately zipped off to the bar at the inn for beer with his pals. Well, that was all fine and dandy, _he _had something to do! Thrown out and ignored by his parents, Isaac had gone around seeing what his friends were up to in the hope that he could spend the rest of this boring and dull day with them. First he had tried Garet's house. Surely his long-time best friend would want to spend a little time with him?

"Hey, Garet!" Isaac yelled, running into his room. "Let's... what are you doing?"

Garet sat on his bed, two identical socks on his hands. Both of them sported odd sock ears. He grinned sheepishly and glanced at the socks on his hands. "Well, you see, Jenna taught me how to make sock bunnies and it's really fun. I'm putting on a sock bunny show right now. You just got to the fun part. Mr. Bunnykins discovers the terrible truth about his girlfriend, Nibbles. She is in fact... an alien sockbunny from another planet who was using him to get data on the sockbunnies of Planet Carrot so that they could impersonate them and take over... hey, Isaac, where did you go?"

Isaac stood in the kitchen of Garet's family home, yelling out incomprehensible words.

"Hey, Isaac," Kay said, walking up to him and giving him a curious stare. "Is there a reason why you are standing in my house and yelling incomprehensible words?"

"Your brother needs help," Isaac said, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, but he got over the voices in his head ages ago," Kay said, looking perplexed.

Isaac gave her an odd stare.

"Oh... did you mean Garet?" Kay coughed. "Aaron never had voices in his head. I just made that up. Oh man, Mom is going to be mad at me now..."

"He had voices in his head?" Isaac's eyes were wide in surprise.

"Yeah. They told him to kill and stuff." Kay shrugged. "But Kraden gave him some drug and now it works wonders."

"How do you manage to stay sane and normal?" Isaac asked, shaking his head.

"I talk to my flowers," Kay said, smiling brightly. "It helps a lot."

Isaac left the house feeling extremely bewildered and disturbed. Then he remembered he had actually been feeling bored and wanted to hang out with someone on this boring day so he sought out the rest of his friends.

"Mia?" Isaac found her sunning herself on the rebuilt dock upon the river, lying across a blanket and looking completely out of it. He kneeled beside her and tentatively poked her. "Hey, do you want to do something?"

"Can't talk," Mia said, rolling over onto her front. "Tanning."

"But, Mia, you can do that another time, can't you?" Isaac asked.

"Go away," Mia muttered, stretching out her limbs.

"I'm bored," Isaac sighed. "Hey, let's hang out. Maybe we could-"

Mia had had quite enough of Isaac bothering her. She promptly kicked him off the dock and he fell into the river with a loud splash. Isaac re-emerged a few seconds later, spitting up water and clinging miserably to the dock.

"I am making up for seventeen years living in a village where it snowed all year," Mia hissed in an acidic voice. "Now leave me alone!"

Feeling quite rejected, Isaac wandered through the village, wet and soaking, not caring for the state he was in. He discovered Piers standing by a tree and staring into a branch. Isaac was about to say something when the Lemurian held up a hand.

"Hush," Piers said, still staring up into the branches. "This is one of life's miracles. The transformation of a creature."

Isaac stared wordlessly up into the branches of the tree and saw a dangling cocoon. "What the hell? It's just a cocoon, Piers!"

Piers didn't even look away. "The caterpillar is at last changing its form. It will emerge as a beautiful, winged butterfly. What a miracle..."

"Argh!" Isaac was feeling quite fed up at this point. He promptly threw a rock at the cocoon and knocked it from the tree. Piers gasped in horror as he watched the cocoon drop to the ground and fell besides it. Isaac couldn't even feel guilty about killing an innocent little insect. Piers gently picked up the cocoon and cradled it in his hands, looking sad and mournful.

"How could you, Isaac?" Piers whispered, gazing at the cocoon. "To so coldly take a life..." He looked up to see that Isaac was long gone and let out a heavy sigh, before proceeding to dig a little grave for the cocoon.

Isaac tried seeking out the Jupiter Adepts next, praying that they would at least be acting sane and normal and be indulging in a fun activity that he actually wanted to join in. After a long and arduous search of the village, he tried the inn next. It was amazing how many people could be found inside on such a nice day, yet, such a boring day to Isaac. He discovered the two sitting in Ivan's room, poring over books.

"What are you two up to?" Isaac asked, staring at the pile of books. They were actually _reading_?

"We are reading the collected works of Kraden's studies on Alchemy," Ivan answered. "It is fascinating."

"If you do not have anything important to say, please leave right now," Sheba said, staring intently at her book. "We are very busy."

"Oh believe me, staying is the last thing I want to do right now," Isaac grumbled, leaving the room. Reading Kraden's works? Were they _insane_? Isaac decided they were in fact insane, left the inn and headed to Felix and Jenna's house next. He hadn't seen them while searching the village so he figured that they would be there.

"Hi, Felix," Isaac said, strolling into Felix's room. "You doing anything right now?"

"Yes, actually," Felix said, sticking out his bare feet and waving a bottle of nail polish. "I am painting my toenails."

"... What?" Isaac blinked.

"I lost a bet with Jenna," Felix said glumly. "Now I have to wear sandals and go around the village with painted toenails."

"Oh," Isaac said quietly, wondering if it would even be a good idea to approach Jenna today. "May I ask what the bet was?"

"How long we could get Kraden to shut up during dinner last night," Felix said. "Mom and Dad invited him over for some crazy reason. She won by giving him super hard toffee! She cheated!"

"How did you try to er... get him to shut up?" Isaac asked.

"I asked him what the meaning to life, the universe and everything was," Felix said. "Thought that would get him thinking. But for some reason, he just said forty-two and continued rambling. What's up with that?"

"I have no idea," Isaac said with wide eyes. "Anyway, I'll leave you to your toenail painting," he said as he slowly backed out of the room and closed the door.

Did he dare to enter the dark and sinister lair that was Jenna's room? Isaac was unsure. He thought he would rather be bored than face the terror that was Jenna. Maybe he would be lucky. Isaac approached the door, his heart beating rapidly against his chest, and gripped the doorknob. A bead of sweat trickled down his face and he drew in a deep breath.

Then he pushed open the door.

Then gasped.

Jenna was tied up and gagged in a corner of the room, keeping exceptionally quiet, and for that matter, looking exceptionally bored.

"What?" Isaac stared. Jenna glared and swung her head in one direction. Isaac slowly turned his head and gasped.

A bedraggled and dirty man he couldn't even recognise was standing in the other corner of the room.

"At last you came!" the man rasped. "I knew you would sense your lover's distress and come to her rescue!"

"You got the wrong guy," Isaac said, stepping back and shutting the door in front of him.

"Hey! Get back here!" Alex yelled as Isaac walked away. "Damn, I thought this would work." He sulkily removed Jenna's gag.

"Why did you think we were lovers?" Jenna asked as she was untied.

"Sheba said so!" Alex cried.

"Oh. Thank you for telling me," Jenna said ominously. "You know, Alex, you really need a bath."

"Give me a break! I was buried under Mt. Aleph for months, living on worms!" Alex whined. "I don't know how or why I survived, but for some reason, I must get the ultimate power. Anyway, I must go to formulate the perfect plan, so see you later." He promptly jumped out of the window, leaving Jenna feeling very confused and annoyed when she realised her window was now broken.

Isaac walked through the village, feeling very bewildered, lonely and upset.

"Hello, Isaac," the Wise One said, suddenly appearing in front of Isaac.

"Argh! Please don't kill me!" Isaac screamed, flinging himself to the ground. "I'm too young to die!"

"Relax. I just sensed your boredom," said the one-eyed rock. "I can help."

"Really?" Isaac stood up, looking excited. "How?"

"Like this!" the Wise One yelled, cackling maniacally as he began flashing white.

Isaac blinked and looked around.

"Chirp chirp?" Isaac said, staring at the ground. He stared at his feet then at the blades of grass that came up to his ankles... then it occurred to him his ankles were no longer there. He hopped and flapped his wings, his eyes widening in horror. Isaac looked up accusingly at empty sky, a feeling of dread trickling through him. The Wise One had disappeared.

_Oh no!_ Isaac thought, flapping his wings and chirping in panic. _I think I've been turned into a bird! Why did he turn me into a bird? Last time I checked, getting turned into an animal was not a cure for boredom! I'm going to get him for this somehow! I wonder what kind of bird I am? Hmm, my chest is quite a striking shade of red... looks like I'm a robin. Why a robin? Does it really even matter?_

Isaac tried to fly. He jumped up in the air and promptly fell back down, seeing stars for a second. After a few tries, he was soaring. It was quite an exhilarating feeling, soaring through the air, until he crashed into a tree and fell down again, cursing all trees.

"Oh dear. Poor thing," Piers said, standing over it. Isaac froze and chirped desperately, praying for Piers to leave him alone. But no, now the crazy Lemurian was cradling him in his hands and cooing. Isaac felt quite humiliated.

"You must be hurt," Piers whispered, stroking Isaac's head and looking at him tenderly. "Here, this will make you feel better." He then cast Ply.

Though it did make Isaac feel better, he was now feeling quite disturbed that Piers wasted his healing Psynergy on birdies. Maybe it was because they weren't even on a journey. He was free to waste as much Psynergy as he liked. Still, it just seemed crazy. Piers spent a few more minutes petting him, then released him much to his relief. Isaac took to the skies again, making sure to watch out for trees and buildings.

As Isaac flew over the dock, he spotted Mia still sunbathing. A particularly vengeful and strange idea took hold of him and if he still had a mouth, he would have smirked in a most devious manner. Payback time.

Mia was calmly sleeping, smiling blissfully, as the sun warmed her body, sprawled out over the dock. She was dreaming of being on an exotic island, sipping cold soda, while her slaves, Isaac and Garet, stood over her and waved palm leaves over her to keep her cool. It was sheer bliss.

Well, it was until something cold and strange smelling splattered into her hair and partially on her forehead. Mia sat up with an ear-splitting scream and reached up to touch it, her hand coming away. She stared in disbelief at the white, sticky goo that covered her fingers then threw a menacing glare at the bird fluttering in the sky.

Isaac saw the danger in her eyes and immediately circled around, attempting to make a quick getaway.

**"ICE MISSILE!"**

He wasn't quick enough. The flurry of ice struck him from behind and he was sent hurtling through the air, desperately fluttering his wings to try and keep his balance, then ended up spiralling through Jenna's window and crashing face first into the ground. Okay, maybe he had deserved that.

"AUGH!" Jenna screamed at the top of her voice, startled by the brown object that had come flying through her window without warning. "DIE DIE DIE!" she screamed some more, hitting the unidentified object with a rapid succession of Dragon Fumes.

"Jenna, what's wrong?" Felix demanded, running into the room. "Are you okay?"

"KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!" Jenna screamed, standing on her bed and staring wide-eyed at the weakly twitching bird on the floor.

Felix stared at the bird and blinked. "Jenna, it's only a bird. Wow, you burned it pretty bad." He kneeled beside it and poked it.

"It flew into my room out of nowhere!" Jenna sank down on the bed, wide-eyed. "Then it just hit the floor. It scared me."

_Save me!_ Isaac thought, letting out a weak chirp and feebly flapping his wings. First he had been iced by Mia (which he had to admit, he deserved) then Jenna had burned him to a crisp for no good reason. She was so not going to be getting any birthday presents from him for the next few years. If he even lived...

"Well, not really fair to let it die," Felix said, casting Potent Cure. "You really shouldn't use your Psynergy so impulsively."

"It scared me!" Jenna said defensively. "What if it was an evil bird that tried to peck my eyes out or claw me to death or..."

"You have an overactive imagination," Felix said, tossing Isaac out of the window.

Isaac crashed to the ground and looked indignantly at the Venus Adept, who hadn't even noticed his ungraceful descent. Ruffling his feathers, he set off again, making sure to stay very far away from Mia. With her sunbathing having been interrupted by bird poop, she might be on some kind of evil rampage against every little bird in Weyard. It was not a pleasant thought.

Where should he go now? His house was a danger, since his mother would just beat him senseless with a feather duster. It would seem rather strange flying into the inn, even if Ivan or Sheba wouldn't mind the company of a very quiet bird. He needed somewhere safe and quiet to hide away, because being a bird was just much too dangerous at the moment.

Isaac flew to Garet's house and found an open window. He discreetly fluttered through the hallway, hoping he wouldn't be seen, and flew into Garet's room. Garet didn't even notice that a bird had just flown into his room and was sitting on a chair and watching, since he was happily indulged in roleplaying with sockbunnies.

"I am going to put an end to your evil and meddling ways!" Garet said in a loud voice, waving one of the sockbunnies. He then started moving the other one and spoke in a deep ominous voice. "Oh, but will you really kill me?" Loud voice again. "Why shouldn't I?" Deep voice. "Because... I am your grandfather!" Loud voice. "NO!!!"

Isaac blinked and shook his head. Garet sure did have a strange imagination. As he continued to mess around with sockbunnies, Isaac fell asleep and slept quite comfortably on the chair, though it was a little difficult to sleep standing up. Somehow he managed. It was nice to have a wing to tuck his head into as well.

When Isaac next awoke, the room was completely empty. Garet had eventually given up on sockbunny roleplays and gone somewhere else. He decided to leave now and flew back to the window, leaving the house. It was already later in the day, possibly around suppertime now.

"Have fun?" the Wise One asked from behind him. Isaac was so surprised he crashed to the ground. He looked angrily up at the Wise One and chirped out a succession of rude words.

"Yeah, they all say that," said the Wise One, confusing Isaac. "Well, might as well turn you back now."

"Oh, thank goodness," Isaac sighed in sheer bliss once he was a human again. "Why did you do that anyway?"

"I was bored," replied the Wise One, before disappearing.

Isaac shook his head in annoyance and set off to his house, hoping that Dora had finished with the spring cleaning by now.


	4. Raising a Stink

**Raising a Stink**

* * *

This is going to be the last chapter because I don't feel like torturing every single Adept. Let's say Wise One only wants to get the Valeans... yeah. That works.

Camelot owns Golden Sun.

* * *

Jenna was quite disturbed to be woken up one morning by a climactic battle between Alex and Isaac outside her bedroom window. Before she could get to the window and open it to yell at them for waking her up, Isaac sensationally won the battle by stabbing out Alex's eyes. Alex ran away screaming and fell in the river.

"Good morning, Jenna," Isaac said, as Jenna angrily opened the window.

"I'm not talking to you!" Jenna yelled. "You didn't get me a present for my birthday so screw you!" She shut the window and turned away from the window in a major sulk. Isaac's excuse for not getting her a present had been simply pathetic. Apparently she had incinerated him. Jenna could not recall doing such a thing. It wasn't as if anything she got for her birthday was particularly good anyway. Garet had given her a sockbunny. The nerve of him. Did he forget that it was her who taught him how to make them in the first place?

A kitty would have been nice. Jenna still missed the kitty that had mysteriously disappeared but had come to terms with the fact that it might never return to her. Maybe she shouldn't have named it Hyacinth. If only she'd kept that rabbit as a pet, maybe it wouldn't have run away because she tried to have it put it in a pie. That sure had been an odd rabbit though. The kitty was odd too. What was it with odd animals? Even that bird who flew through the window one day had been rather strange... since when did birds spiral through windows and crash? Apparently when rabbits jumped into rivers and cats randomly ran up to groups of people and tried to get attention.

Was there something strange going on here or was she just thinking too hard? Nothing else had happened in a few months anyway, no odd encounters with animals. Instead, all her non-Valean friends had been disappearing back home. Mia had been the first, going back to Imil when she claimed birds in Vale were evil. Isaac had seemed a little morose afterward, though Jenna put it down to him having feelings for Mia. Piers had been longing for his homeland and considering he hadn't returned, Lemuria must have let him back in. Sheba was now back in Lalivero, so Jenna figured it would be safe to have another kitten. Ivan had returned to Kalay.

Now that just left the idiot who thought she burned him, the other idiot who gave her a sockbunny and her brother. Needless to say, Jenna was often bored and a little fed up. She liked travelling and adventures. Alex's constant returns to seize the power Isaac supposedly had had entertained her at first, but now they had grown dull and without eyes, he probably wouldn't be coming back anyway. Taking over the world was a difficult task when you couldn't even see.

Jenna got dressed, still feeling quite irritated at being woken up, and stomped out of her bedroom. She walked to the kitchen and sat down, grabbing cereal and pouring it into a bowl before moodily eating it.

"Hey, Jenna, did you see that battle?" Felix asked. "It was raging for a whole hour. I'm amazed Isaac managed to keep fighting for that long. Then again, Alex seems to be a bit of a pansy ass. I wonder who won?"

"Isaac," Jenna said sourly, chewing slowly on her food. "I wish Alex had impaled the jerk. Not getting me a birthday present because I apparently burned him? What the hell? Well, Alex hasn't got eyes anymore, so I think he's gone."

Felix had put two and two together now and figured the robin had been the Wise One cruelly transforming Isaac, so Jenna did burn Isaac, but Felix wisely chose not to say anything. She wasn't going to believe him if he told he he got turned into a cat, Garet got turned into a rabbit and Isaac got turned into a bird. Now that Ivan, Mia, Piers and Sheba had all left Vale and Jenna didn't seem to have undergone a transformation, Felix wondered if Jenna was going to get turned into something. The Wise One had been strangely quiet lately.

"If Alex won, he would get Alchemy and probably take over the world," Felix said. "Do you really want that?"

"How do you know Alex wants to take over the world?" Jenna frowned. "He might actually have heroic, noble reasons for wanting the ultimate power! Is it so unlikely?"

"You are quite simply the Queen of denial," Felix muttered, resuming eating his breakfast.

"I can't believe Isaac stabbed his eyes out." Jenna looked disappointed. "He has forever ruined his handsome looks."

Felix didn't feel like commenting on whether Alex was handsome or not, so he remained silent and continued eating his breakfast as Jenna angsted over Alex. Then she got bored of angsting over Alex and contemplated plotting diabolical revenge on Isaac. However, she was unable to come up with a simple and easy yet great plan, so she gave up.

Still feeling quite bored of everything and annoyed with the entire world, Jenna left the house and went to burn down trees when nobody was looking. It had a strangely calming effect on her that nobody understood. How could they understand how peaceful and happy it made her to see trees being devoured by roaring flames? Instead they scolded her for destroying nature, but she honestly did not care.

"What did that tree ever do to you?" a voice asked as Jenna proceeded to destroy her tenth tree this morning. She was desperately in need of the calming effects of destroying trees with fire. Jenna moodily turned around to glare at the rock that was floating in the air.

"It didn't do anything to me," Jenna said in a glum voice. "But Isaac did. He stabbed out Alex's eyes and Alex used to be so hot. He can't be hot now with bloody hollows for eyes! Isaac didn't even get me a present for my birthday and Garet gave me a sockbunny. I was the one who taught him how to make those! Sheba stole my cat then it disappeared, a rabbit ran away before Mom could bake it in a pie and a bird scared the living hell out of me by flying into my room. Nobody understands how I feel so I must burn all the stupid trees."

"I see," the Wise One said after a moment of silence. "It does appear you are cruel to trees as well."

"As well?" Jenna raised an eyebrow, looking haughty. "And exactly what else am I cruel to?"

"Animals," replied the Wise One. "Did you know that cat you had was male?"

"How would you know that?" Jenna squinted suspiciously.

"Er... I'm psychic," the Wise One lied. "You gave him a crappy name-"

"Hyacinth is not a crappy name!" Jenna argued.

"You put a ribbon around his neck," the Wise One continued, ignoring Jenna. "I must say, it was humiliating for him. Then there was that rabbit you scared the heck out of. Having your mother make rabbit pie? What were you thinking?"

"How did the rabbit know I was going to eat it?" Jenna asked. That was strange. The rabbit had seemed a little scared.

"Last but not least, that bird you burned to a crisp," said the Wise One. "You really should treat animals a little nicer."

"In my defence, I did not know the kitty was male, rabbit pie is a legitimate dish and that bird scared me!" Jenna said.

"If only you knew..." the Wise One said, trailing off with a sinister chuckle. "Anyway, I must tell you that I am quite simply bored. Do you know what I do when I am bored?" He shiftily looked around with his single eye.

"Turn people into dragons?" Jenna asked.

"Close enough," replied the Wise One. "Since you are the last one I haven't done it to... have fun." The rock promptly started flashing.

Jenna was quite startled to find the tree she had been burning was suddenly towering over her and the rock seemed much further away. Her head swam for a moment as she looked around, feeling quite disoriented. Just what was going on here? Had she actually shrunk? Jenna looked up in confusion only to see that the Wise One had disappeared. She tried to yell a series of rude and angry words, but all that came out was a series of squeaks and odd noises.

_What the hell? _wondered Jenna. She raised her hands to her face and stared. Instead of hands, she had little black paws. Jenna's eyes widened and she slowly turned her head around to see a large black and white tail half suspended over her back. Comprehension dawned on her and she let out the best scream that she could, considering that she was now a small, furry creature. _The Wise One's turned me into a skunk! A skunk! One of the stinkiest creatures ever!_

How could this be? How could the Wise One have turned her into such an undignified animal? Why couldn't she have become something graceful and beautiful that was admired... wait, what was she thinking? She was supposed to be worried about the fact she wasn't a human anymore and that the Wise One had just played some evil game with her! Jenna sat still, wondering what she should do next. The Wise One might not be coming back anytime soon. Maybe she was meant to have fun. He wouldn't leave her like this forever, surely?

A slow grin spread across Jenna's face. Maybe she could have some fun. Skunks had interesting abilities, didn't they? Jenna wasted no time in scampering across Vale, darting past rather surprised people, as she ran toward Isaac's house. By some sheer stroke of luck, the front door had been left partly open so getting in was easy enough. Jenna quietly sneaked in and crept past the kitchen, sighing in relief when Kyle and Dora didn't see her. She scampered up the stairs and toward Isaac's bedroom. Isaac had made the foolish mistake of leaving his bedroom door slightly ajar. Now it was time for Jenna to have some fun.

Jenna sidled into the empty room and walked into the middle of it, looking around carefully. The window was shut. That was a good start. Time to let herself go. Jenna began spraying, though it wasn't clear how she knew how to do that, and she did it while running around the room, taking extra care to jump onto his bed and slide under the duvet so she could do it there too. Once done, Jenna lay back on the bed, inhaling the pungent fumes in Isaac's room, and let out a blissful sigh. She couldn't wait to see the look on Isaac's face when he came back and found his bedroom smelled worse than Garet's farts.

When she heard footsteps on the stairs, she realised it might be sooner than she thought. Jenna hurriedly scrambled under the duvet, quaking. She had just been kidding about seeing the look on Isaac's face!

"What in the-? It stinks!"

Jenna nervously peeped out from under the duvet, seeing a horrified Isaac standing in the doorway. He didn't look too impressed with the bad smell hanging around. Isaac walked slowly across the room, grimacing as he went to pull open the window. She immediately took the chance to bolt from the room, her claws clacking loudly on the floor.

"Hey!" Isaac yelled, catching sight of the skunk running out of his room.

Jenna hurtled down the stairs, her heart pounding rapidly. She screeched to a halt in front of the front door, eyes widening in horror. It was shut! Isaac was running down the stairs now so Jenna turned and ran into the kitchen, eliciting a frightened scream from Dora. She put all her strength into a jump for the windowsill and flew through the fortunately open window. Jenna landed on the ground safely outside and walked away with a relieved sigh. Only for the front door to open and Isaac to run out with a sword.

He was going to kill a _skunk_? Well, she had just messed up his room...

Jenna took flight, frantically wondering where she could hide, as Isaac frantically pursued her, believing her to be nothing more than an evil skunk that came into people's houses and caused a stink. There didn't seem to be anywhere she could hide, especially with Isaac so close behind. Then she caught sight of Felix wandering around and wasted no time in letting out a shrill cry, leaping into his leg and clambering up. She only hoped that Felix would save her, he'd healed that robin and pulled that rabbit out of the river, hadn't he? He obviously liked animals.

Felix winced in pain and slowly looked down, eyes widening as he saw a trembling and very frightened skunk clinging to his leg. He looked up to see a panting Isaac leaning over on his knees, holding a sword in one hand.

"I have to kill the skunk," Isaac gasped out. "It made a bad smell in my room. What a foul creature."

Felix blinked in surprise. The skunk had messed up Isaac's room? Then realisation dawned on him and he glanced at the extremely frightened skunk clinging to his leg for dear life. Of course, it all made perfect sense. He looked back at Isaac and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Isaac. I can't let you kill it."

"What?" Isaac wasn't sure he had heard right. He stared in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind? It's vermin!"

"It is an innocent creature!" Felix said. "Maybe you shouldn't have left your door open."

"Oh, come on, Felix..." Isaac broke off and stared at the skunk. "Wait a minute... that's kind of odd it picked my room out of..."

Jenna cringed. Oh great, he wasn't going to figure it out, was he? No way, that was ridiculous. Why would Isaac think his friend had been turned into a skunk?

"So... you see why you can't kill it?" Felix asked.

"I can't say it was any worse than me pooping on Mia," Isaac said. He flinched. "Er, whoops, did I really say that? I... er... I better go... do something." He turned and ran away.

"So that's what Mia meant about evil birds." Felix shook his head. "I guess you're safe now..."

Jenna dropped from his leg with a sigh of relief and sat despondently, wondering how the heck they had figured it out.

"I really hope this is the last of the Wise One's stupid games," Felix said, sitting down with a sigh. "They seem to be rather life-threatening."

Jenna thought about the rabbit she tried to have put in a pie and the bird she'd burnt. Oh great, those had probably been some of her friends. The bird was apparently Isaac. Recalling how the rabbit had jumped into the river, she figured that was Garet. What about Felix? Then she recalled him disappearing for that whole day and reappearing in Sheba's room, which was also the last place the cat had been seen. Her jaw dropped.

"Hey!" Garet said, walking up. He kneeled down and stared curiously at the skunk. "Is that a skunk?"

"Well, you know how the Wise One likes to play funny games?" Felix asked. Garet paled at the memory and nodded. "Well, seems that might be Jenna."

Jenna bristled. Was Felix planning on telling the whole of Vale she had become a skunk? Well, now she didn't feel so bad about tying pink ribbons on his neck. She looked up as Garet stared at her in amazement then he suddenly burst out laughing. Jenna angrily turned around and sprayed an entire load into Garet's face.

"Argh!" Garet cried, falling back and clutching his nose. "It stinks!"

"Jenna." Felix shot the skunk a look of scolding.

Jenna just huffed and glared at Garet. She didn't find the situation even a little funny. How could she have become such a foul animal?

"Sheesh," Garet muttered, wiping his face. "You're really cranky today, Jenna."

"At least she didn't make a stink in your room," Felix said. "Jenna's got a pretty big grudge on Isaac."

"So, I guess we all got turned into animals now," Garet said. "I hope that means the Wise One is done with his stupid games."

"I hope so too," Felix sighed.

"So, what should we do with her?" Garet asked. "There's no way either of us can take a skunk into the house."

"I'm not sure, but keeping her in containment would be a good idea," Felix said, shooting a look at the skunk.

"Maybe Kraden will look after her for a while," Garet suggested. "We'll just tell him it's a skunk that uses Psynergy. He'll go crazy."

Jenna froze in horror. No, surely they couldn't possibly be that cruel?

"That's a good idea," Felix replied. "Let's hand her over to Kraden."

_No!_ Jenna thought, as a pair of hands seized her. _Is this revenge for bad names, ribbons and pies? Somebody help me! Oh, who am I kidding? I'm doomed. _She glumly let herself be carried to Kraden's cottage, her spirits sinking even further as Kraden took great delight at hearing of an animal that used Psynergy. Then Felix and Garet got out super fast, leaving Jenna at the mercy of Kraden.

"This is most fascinating!" Kraden rattled on, poking and probing Jenna. "A real skunk that uses Psynergy! Now how do I make it use Psynergy? There must be a way to- argh! Good grief, I should be more careful. That skunk spray really stinks."

The Wise One appeared in Kraden's cottage hours later, silently watching as Kraden rattled on to a skunk who lay on a table, eyes glazed over from sheer boredom and despair. The rock let out a loud cough, alerting Kraden.

"Oh my goodness! The Wise One!" Kraden exclaimed. "It is quite an honour to be visited by Vale's protector! Have you come to see this miracle, the Psynergy using skunk? Though I do wonder how Garet and Felix found that out... I am having absolutely no luck in making this skunk use Psynergy. It is spraying me a lot though."

"You really are an idiot," said the Wise One. He flashed and Kraden fell over in a faint. "I'd rather you did not witness my twisted games for yourself."

Jenna raised her head listlessly, throwing a pleading look at the Wise One.

"Seems like you suffered a bit. Oh well, fun time is over now," said the Wise One. He flashed again and a moment later, Jenna was human once more.

"Now you're going to get it!" Jenna shouted, leaping off the table. She flung a Dragon Fume... through empty space. "Oh, man... he got away." Feeling quite disappointed, she walked out of Kraden's cottage.

Garet was happily relaxing and playing with a sockbunny when a shadow fell over him. He tentatively looked up into the glaring eyes of Jenna.

"Er... hello... Jenna..." Garet gulped. "Look at my sockbunny..."

**"SEARING BEAM!"**

It wasn't like it hurt him too much. Jenna turned and walked away, leaving Garet a little crispy.

On the way to her house, she found Isaac just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing.

"Hey, Isaac... er, I guess I did incinerate you," Jenna said awkwardly. "Sorry about the room spraying."

"Being turned into animals drives us all a little crazy," Isaac said, chuckling nervously. He wondered if he should ever go to Imil and tell Mia the truth. However, the desire to live was too strong. "Sorry about chasing you with my sword."

"No problem," Jenna said. "Anyway, I must go home and teach my brother a lesson. See you later."

Felix sat quaking in the corner of his room, staring at the barricade against his door. He had a horrible feeling it wasn't going to hold against the wrath of Jenna. What had he been thinking, going along with Garet's idea? Was he really still that annoyed about being named after a flower and wearing a pink ribbon? Wait, yes he was. However, her revenge was going to be far more painful.

The barricade and the door were blown away by a surge of fire. The vengeful and angry Mars Adept stood in the doorway, eyes glowing with fire.

"Kraden rambled at me for hours," Jenna hissed in a demonic voice, walking across the room. "Do you realise he _talks to animals_?"

"You talk to cats!" Felix protested.

"Uh... well..." Jenna broke off, her eyes narrowing. "Tell anybody and I'll set you on fire." She swung around and walked out of the room, leaving Felix to stare in dismay at the burned wreckage in the doorway. At least he hadn't suffered after all.


End file.
